Clodagh Finn: Recalling a religious ‘radical’ when radical action is needed

What would Sisters of Charity founder Mary Aikenhead make of the row over the new National Maternity Hospital?

St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin, which is at the centre of the row over the new National Maternity Hospital. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

Wed, 23 Jun, 2021 - 07:56

Clodagh Finn is a journalist, writer and collector of stories. Her recent book, The Irish in the Resistance, co-authored with John Morgan, shines a light on the forgotten contributions of the Irish who resisted Hitler during WW2.

It isn’t the kind of thing you can say these days, but I still have huge admiration for Mary Aikenhead, the Cork woman who founded the Sisters of Charity and, later, St Vincent’s Hospital, both of which are back in the headlines now for very different reasons.

I wonder what the woman herself would make of the row over the new National Maternity Hospital which, in essence, represents another important step on the inexorable journey to separate Church and State?